Posted on: Mon 01-06-2020

A Chinese team arrived the country on April 8, 2020 to the condemmation of various bodies and groups across the country. Prior to the arrival of the said "15-man medical team from China",  Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, had said the medical experts from the Asian country where COVID-19 broke out were coming to Nigeria to assist in the fight against the disease.

First, the invitation of the Chinese doctors by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 was highly criticized by most Nigerians especially doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and other healthcare providers.  

When these questions were put forward to the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, he said, “We are not the only ones getting supplies from China…even New York got 1,000 ventilators from them as donations. Start with this recent evidence of Chinese experts giving technical support on COVID-19 to many countries, including our former colonial masters. The position of the Honorable Minister of Health is that they are not here to render medical services, they are here to install and train on how to use the equipment donated by China as part of China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

When contacted on the same issue, the Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, was quoted as saying: “This is completely in the hands of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) not the NCDC or PTF.”

May 14, 2020

HEADLINE: The Federal Government has said it does not know the whereabouts of the Chinese doctors and technicians who came into the country to offer assistance to Nigeria in the fight against the Coronavirus on the invitation of the government.

This shocking statement made by the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire at the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the containment of the Covid -19 in Abuja on Thursday May 14th came one month after the controversial arrival of the Chinese medical team and schocked the whole nation.  

When further questioned, Ehanire said: “I want to explain first of all that I think not all of them were doctors and I heard that some of them are technicians, but they are staff of CCECC, the Ministry of health is not their host, so we can’t always explain what happened to them or where they are.

“There seems to be a lot of interests in these doctors but they are the staff of a company and I think they are on the company visa. So I will be very happy if you don’t ask me about where they are because they are not really our guests in that sense. But we have been able to learn some things from them by interacting with them from their experience in their country, we shared ideas about what they did in their country in managing Covid -19.

A few days later, once again a new clarification was made about the medical team where representatives ended up digging in their bosses by saying not all members of the chinese team were doctors but that most were technicians.

May 18, 2020

HEADLINE: CCECC Says They Invited The Medical Team Not The Federal Government

The Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) annouced that the team were its guests and not that of the Nigerian government

Managing Director, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Michael Yigao, says the 15 Chinese medical experts that arrived in the country on April 8 are in the company’s care. Yigao made this statement while reacting to questions raised by the media and opposition parties on the where abouts of the team. However, Yigao clarified that the team came specially to help CCECC fight this pandemic and protect its employees. They are here with us and have continued to teach our staff how to protect themselves, because protection and prevention are more important than the treatment.

He said the medical experts would be heading home as soon as there is a commercial flight to China. "Right now, commercial flight to China is not open, but when flights are open again, we’re considering the team going back to China.”

May 30, 2020

Headline: Chinese Medical Team Flown Out of The Country By My Husband - Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde

Nollywood actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, whose husband is a pilot, shared the news of the departure of “the Chinese people who flew in some time ago” on her Instagram page, with a tagged picture of her husband, Matthew Ekeinde, the flight crew and the Chinese passengers.

This oncemore reignited the controversy trailing the whereabouts of the medics that pitted some Nigerians against the Nigerian government, specifically the Ministry of Health.

When contacted, the Nigerian government through the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the team had returned home to China. And the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when questioned over the recent evacuation of Nigerians from China despite the temporary suspension of the exercise, the ministry explained that “the aeroplane that took the Chinese medical team back to their base could not just come back empty like that.”

Also the ministry’s spokesperson, Ferdinand Nwonye, later said categorically that the Chinese medical team had left Nigeria.

Headline: Chinese Embassy Denies Claims Medical Team Had Left

The Chinese embassy and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) say the Chinese medical team controversially invited to support Nigerian efforts against COVID-19 is still around in the country.

The spokesperson for the embassy, Sun Siaxiong, said the report of them sneaking out of Nigeria was untrue. She said the Chinese medical personnel “are still much around here in Abuja and their coming to the country was to assist the CCECC to prevent the pandemic outbreak in the company and also to extend their hands to Nigeria in experience sharing and management of COVID-19 pandemic,”  

The Executive Director, CCECC Nigeria, Lian Jianfeng, also refuted the claim.

Mr JianFeng said the medical team had complied with all known immigration and health protocols and would continue to do so until there is the reopening of international commercial flights to China.

“They are still in Abuja. The team are waiting for the re-opening of the international commercial flight from Abuja. The flight organised by Chinese government was for the special group: aged below 14 or above 60 and some other particular people. The numbers were limited. And the flight departed from Lagos,” he said.

PLAYERS UNKNOWN

So at this junction, no one except maybe the Minister of Health Ehanire, The Federal Government, The Chinese Embassy or The CCECC Nigeria has an idea of where the medical team that arrived the shores of the country is.

But the least we can do is only watch and observe, who knows, another gaff might just present itself in the coming days.

By Avalon

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